Upper limit so far? Story Musgrave at 61, I think.

(Fantastic, friendly and engaging guy, by the way. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak, do so and if you get a chance to shake his hand and meet him afterwards, go for it: really nice guy.)

But, of course, it takes years of training. Years and years, so you gotta start before age 61. Take for example pilot Kevin Ford, who will fly the shuttle for the first time tomorrow. He began his NASA training in 2000 at age 40. Of course, he's a longtime pilot and was a Colonel in the USAF, so you could say he began his astronaut training with a BS in Aeronautical Engineering at the age of 22.

This is typical, even for scientists and mission specialists: You start working with NASA 8-10 years before you ever fly (IF you ever fly). And you only get a job as an astronaut with NASA after a distinguished career in whatever it is you do.

NASA is a government agency, so pay is based on the standard scale, probably starting at $70,000 and not going much above $100,000 a year.
Source(s):
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts128/index.html


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